Feeder reader subsystem

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, an article sorting system includes successive coarse and fine singulators and a recirculating loop for processing a disordered stream of items including three-dimensional non-flat articles. A coarse singulator includes cascaded ramped conveyors, preferably operating at progressively greater speeds. A detection system, such as a vision system, for monitoring the stream of articles and identifying and/or tracking individual items passing through the system is used in conjunction with a fine singulator such as a chevron, hold-and-release or strip conveyor downstream from the coarse singulator. A control system is utilized in connection with the vision system to regulate the flow of articles through the system by, for example, diverting doubles or clusters for separations. A method of sorting articles includes steps of singulating a disordered stream of items with multiple singulating steps including a coarse singulating step for mechanically increasing the spacing between items in the stream, and a fine singulating step in which individual items are monitored and/or identified and tracked as they traverse the system. A divert apparatus which can be provided for diverting oversize/overweight articles or unwanted clusters of unsingulated articles includes an angled roller conveyor and a gate for discharging articles from the stream of articles to be processed.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.09/560,235, filed Apr. 28, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,936, with is aconversion of provisional U.S. application Ser. No. 60/131,734, filedApr. 30, 1999, which are relied upon for priority and which areincorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for feeding items suchas mail pieces into a sorting system, which system includes subsystemsfor singulation of mail pieces such as parcels.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In high volume product handling operations, such as mail handling andsimilar processing, large quantities of items such as boxes, parcelspackages or parts often varying widely in size, must be inducted into asorter systems. Typically, a feeder system for use in such processingareas takes a disordered stream of items fed to it on a conveyor andinducts the items onto a sorter system. The feeder system ideally shouldperform several functions. To the maximum extent possible, the feedershould singulate disordered items in order to present the articles todownstream processing equipment, such as a sorter, one at a time with aminimum specified spacing or separation between product items. Thefeeder system must also read destination information from the item sothat the control system for the sort can track it through the system andsort it correctly. In the U.S., scannable bar codes are used for thispurpose. A third important function is intercepting and removing itemswhich are non-machinable because they are too large, too heavy or thelike from the system for special handling.

Singulation is an essential first step in the handling and sortingproduct items such as boxes, parcels or soft packages. Singulation is aprocess whereby a randomly input stream of items moving on a conveyorsystem is separated into a stream of single items spaced from each otherso that an downstream process can readily perform operations on eachitem one at a time. Mixed item streams are a particular challenge inthat a mixed material stream may include packages that vary greatly insize and may be piled at random one upon another, forming agglomeratesof packages that are difficult to detect and separate.

According to one previously proposed method for singulation of mail, aninclined ramp with holes for applying suction is provided. Letters areallowed to slide down the ramp and then suction is applied to hold themin place on the slide. The suction is then selectively released in orderto release one item at a time. See Interim Report For Phase I, U.S.Postal Service Contract 104230-85-H-0002, Apr. 5, 1985, ElectroComAutomation, Inc., pages 3-10 to 3-13. This method provides one form ofsingulation, but is of doubtful utility for larger items that may bedifficult to hold effectively using suction and that may tend to tumbledown a slide, possibly evading the effect of suction and leaving thesingulator prematurely. The system according to the present inventionaddresses these difficulties.

The invention further provides a variety of innovations useful insorting system as described in the summary and detailed descriptionwhich follow.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a system for feedingitems to a sorter includes a first conveyor that conveys a stream ofitems to be sorted, a mechanical singulator that receives the stream ofitems from the conveyor and singulates the items, an automated systemfor detection and removal from the stream items which exceedpredetermined physical limitations associated with the sorter, a scannerfor reading destination indicia on each item, a second conveyor forconveying each item for induction to the sorter, and optionally alabeler that labels each item with a label readable by the sorter, whichlabel identifies a sorting destination that corresponds to the readdestination indicia.

Such a system in accordance with one embodiment of the inventionincludes a first singulator section having an infeed end that receives adisordered stream of non-flat, three-dimensional articles, at least oneconveyor, and a system associated with the conveyor for mechanicallyincreasing spacing between the articles moving along the conveyorwithout need to track positions of individual articles on the conveyor.A second singulator section includes at least one conveyor, a detectionsystem that identifies individual articles as each passes through thesecond singulator section, and a control system that selectivelyactuates portions of the conveyor of the second section in response toposition data from the detection system to remove articles from thesecond singulator one at a time.

An article sorting method for feeding items to a sorter according to theinvention comprises the steps of conveying a stream of items such asmail pieces on a conveyor to an automated singulator, singulating theitems using the singulator, detecting and removing from the stream itemswhich exceed predetermined physical limitations associated with thesorter, reading destination indicia on each item, and conveying eachitem for induction to the sorter for sorting in accordance with the readdestination indicia. Each item may further be labeled with a labelreadable by the sorter, which label identifies a sorting destinationthat corresponds to the read destination indicia.

In another aspect, the invention comprises a singulation systemincluding a first singulator section having an infeed end that receivesa disordered stream of non-flat, three-dimensional articles, at leastone conveyor, and a system associated with the conveyor for mechanicallyincreasing spacing between the articles moving along the conveyorwithout need to track positions of individual articles on the conveyor.A second singulator section receives the stream of articles from thefirst singulator section, the second section including at least oneconveyor and a detection system that identifies individual articles asthe articles pass through the second singulator section. A controlsystem selectively actuates portions of the conveyor of the secondsection in response to position data from the detection system in amanner effective to remove articles from the second singulator one at atime. The first singulator section may include first and secondconveyors disposed end to end so that articles leaving the firstconveyor are received by the second conveyor, the second conveyor movingat a greater speed than the first conveyor.

Such a two-stage singulation process may be characterized as successivecoarse and fine singulation operations that improve singulationefficiency. For purposes of the present invention, “coarse” singulationrefers to a mechanical process which tends to singulate a disorderedstream of items by attenuation of the stream (increase in spacingbetween items) but which does not track items individually. “Fine”singulation refers to a process wherein individual items traversing thesingulator are identified and/or tracked with a detection system such asa vision system, and controls are used to affect the stream in a mannerthat ensures or at least promotes singulation, for example, by divertingitems back to ensure delivery of items from the system one at a time.Thus, a fine singulating step includes monitoring individual itemstraversing the system. Spacing of items in the disordered stream may bemonitored with a detection system such as a vision system, and inputfrom the vision system is used to control the system and to promoteseparation of items into an ordered one-by-one stream. The vision systemmay be used to identify and track individual items passing through thesystem.

Successive coarse and fine singulation operations are particularlyuseful for recycling and separating “doubles” or “multiples,” namely twoor more items in continuous material stream that are overlapping,side-by-side or consecutive without sufficient spacing. For thispurpose, the coarse singulation step or section may fiter include a stepof dropping items off of one conveyor and onto another in a manner thatwould tend to break up doubles, but of sufficiently short distance thatdamage to the items is minimal.

Thus, the invention provides a method of singulating a group of itemsincludes the steps of introducing a disordered stream of items onto acoarse singulator which mechanically tends to increase spacing betweenitems in the stream, and then passing the stream to a fine singulatorwherein individual items are tracked with a detection system andcontrols are used to affect the stream in a manner that promotessingulation. As described in detail herein, the “fine” singulation maybe accomplished with a chevron, hold-and-release or longitudinal stripconveyor. Alternatively, “coarse” singulation may be accomplished with aseries of cascaded, e.g., ramped conveyors which, in one embodiment, maybe angled in a horizontal plane relative to the preceding and/orsucceeding conveyor. In one embodiment, one or more inclined conveyorscomprising independently driven longitudinal conveying sections, such asparallel strip belts may be used for coarse singulation or, with theaddition of a vision system and intelligent control, may be utilized forfine singulation.

In one embodiment, a coarse singulator includes at least one inclinedconveyor, disposed at an angle of from about 5° to about 30°, forreceiving a stream of articles to be singulated, including a lowerarticle receiving area and upper article discharge end. A succeedingconveyor, preferably operated at a higher speed than the precedingconveyor, receives articles or items dropping from the discharge end ofthe preceding inclined conveyor. In one embodiment, one or more of theconveyors is positioned at an angle in the horizontal plane relative tothe preceding conveyor at an angle from about 5° to about 90° to furtherpromote singulation. The transfer process over the cascaded conveyorstends to break up or separate multiples or clusters of items and effectis increased if the succeeding conveyor is operated at a higher speed.

In another aspect, a coarse or fine singulating chevron-type conveyorincludes a first conveyor section set at a first horizontal anglerelative to a lengthwise conveying direction of the conveyor, and asecond conveyor section set at a second horizontal angle relative to alengthwise conveying direction of the conveyor. The first and secondsections each extend in the lengthwise conveying direction of theconveyor and are positioned to cause items traveling on either sectionto move towards a central lengthwise axis of the conveyor while movingin the conveying direction of the conveyor. A control system may beprovided for selectively operating the first and second conveyorsections in a manner that promotes singulation of items. In a preferredform, the first and second conveyor sections comprise groups of angledrollers, angled of from about 5° to 85° relative to a central axis ofthe conveyor. The rollers of the first and second conveyor sections eachhave separate drive systems whereby rollers of the first section canoperate independently of rollers of the second section, and mostpreferably, subgroups of rollers within each section each have separatedrive systems. At least one sensor, such as a digital camera may beprovided to monitor the density of articles at one or more points in thesystem. Images captured by the camera may in turn be used to regulatethe speed of one or more of the conveyors.

The invention further provides a recirculating singulation system. Inthis system, a conveyor conveys a stream of incoming items to amechanical singulator that receives the stream of items from theconveyor and singulates the items. An automated system is provided fordetecting insufficient spacing between items in the stream of items fromthe singulator. This system includes a controller for operating a divertmechanism that diverts an item identified by the automated detectionsystem back to the stream of items on the conveyor for incoming items.An edging divert conveyor of the invention is a preferred form of divertmechanism for use in a recirculation loop. Such a divert mechanismincludes an edger conveyor having angled rollers which convey itemsalong a gate at one side of the edger conveyor. A return path such as aslide or chute leads from the gate to a conveyor for incoming items, orother destination. A control mechanism opens the gate to divert an itemidentified by the automated detection system for diversion, for example,along the return path back to the stream of items on the conveyor forincoming items. The recirculation loop may include a coarse singulationsystem only, a fine singulation system only, or both in series asdescribed in the detailed description which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will hereafter be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, wherein like numerals denote like elements, and:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a feeder-reader subsystem including achevron singulator according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a recirculating singulation systemaccording to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective schematic view of a first embodiment of thechevron singulator and a control system for the chevron singulatoraccording to the invention;

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a chevronsingulator;

FIG. 4 is an end view of a drive system for a group of rollers used inthe chevron singulator of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a drive system for a group of rollers used inthe chevron singulator of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an end view, partly broken away, of the chevron singulator ofFIG. 2;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are top plan views, partly broken away, of the chevronsingulator of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a partial end view of the edging conveyor of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a partial side view of the underside of the edging conveyor ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 10 is a schematic side view of the cascaded conveyors of FIG. 2(not to scale);

FIG. 11 is a schematic side, view of an alternative form of singulationsystem to the cascaded conveyors of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a schematic top view of the singulation system of FIG. 11;

FIGS. 13A, 13B and 13C are schematic diagrams of an alternative visionsystem according to the invention in three different viewing positions;

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a recirculating singulation systemaccording to an alternative embodiment of the invention; and

FIGS. 15A-15D are schematic diagrams of zig-zag conveyor patternsaccording to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates a feeder/reader subsystem 18 according to theinvention. A continuous flow of material such as parcels is divertedonto a short belt buffer conveyor 20 (single or double) from a parcelbelt feed conveyor 19 by means of a right angle transfer mechanism 16,e.g., a set of angled power rollers with a movable gate. Typically, thematerial is a disordered stream of non-flat, three-dimensional articlesthat may include overweight articles, oversize articles and clusters ofarticles that must be separated prior to processing.

An acceleration or infeed conveyor 21 controls the velocity of theproduct flow into a singulator module 33. Acceleration conveyor 21 mayinclude an inspection camera and a control system that monitors theitems entering conveyor 21. As used herein, the term “density” withreference to a stream of articles such as mail pieces refers to thenumber of articles present in a given area, such as a segment of aconveyor, at a point in time. Items in single file with controlledspacing, which leave chevron singulator module 33 on a transportconveyor 34, are edged on edging conveyor 29 and are subject to bar codescanning in a scanning module 35. Integral with the bar code scanningmodule 35 is a measure and weigh module 36.

Scanning tunnel 35 is the initial means of identifying the items issuingfrom the singulator and entering the parcel processing area. Integratedwith the scanning tunnel 35 are the measure and weigh functions. Eachitem is automatically measured and weighed at this point in theinduction line to determine whether it must be diverted because ofoversize or overweight. These functions are critical in identifyingoversize or overweight items as well as limiting the spectrum of itemspresented downstream to a sorting system such as mail entering the tilttray conveyor system to those pieces within its operating specification.Information regarding oversized, overweight, and clustered items may betransmitted to an divert controller (not shown) to facilitate diversion.

Oversize or overweight items, which are identified by weighing andmeasuring outside dimensions, are diverted via a high speed divertmodule 37 to a conveyor 38 terminating at a transport container boundfor the oversize or overweight sorter. Remaining mail flow is introducedto a means of identification such as a parcel address reader (PAR)module 39 that automatically reads destination information from the topor bottom of the item.

Items which have then been identified, either by multi-sided bar codescanning, scanning up to six sides, the parcel address reader 39, or byradio identification (RIDF) patches or tags attached to each item aresent through a series of buffer conveyors 40 directly to a labeler 41.Pieces that cannot be identified either by multi-sided bar code scanningor the parcel address reader are diverted by a divert conveyor section42 through a series of buffer conveyors 43 to a manual station 44, atwhich the required information (i.e. address) is read and keyed in by ahuman operator. Following such manual entry, the item is sent back alonga further series of buffer conveyors 46 to a merge section 47, at whichpoint the diverted piece rejoins the main stream and the destination ofthe item is physically affixed by equipment such as label applicator 41.Thus, following identification by one of the three means described, eachitem is labeled with destination information on its top face by labeler41 before induction onto a sorter such as a tilt tray sorter (notshown). The transfer of an item onto a sorter, such as a tilt traysorter, is carried out in a manner known in the art.

A feeder/reader subsystem 18 such as the foregoing is under computerizedcentral control. The central controller monitors the throughput of thesystem and tracks each item once it has been identified, e.g., bymaintaining in memory a table of data relating to each item in thesystem between the scanning tunnel 35, where it first becomes possibleto identify the item with a destination, and the induction end of thesystem at which the items are inducted into a sorting device such astilt tray sorter. Such information is of course communicated to a mastercontrol system for the sorter so that the item continues to be trackedby the sorter.

Referring now to the specific components of feeder/reader subsystem 18,it will be noted that the system utilizes a unique chevron singulator33. Acceleration conveyor 21 may include a vision system including oneor more sensing devices such as camera or cameras 11 linked to a controlsystem 13. The vision system determines the number and size of itemsloaded onto the acceleration conveyor 21.

In one embodiment, the vision system monitor the number and/or size ofitems or articles present on the input third, 21A, middle third 21B andoutput third 21C of acceleration conveyor 21. Controller 13 uses thisinformation to control the flow of articles. The number of items presenton the input third 21A is used to control the speed of the conveyor orconveyors feeding the acceleration conveyor 21. It the number ofarticles on input third 21A is too great, the speed of the conveyor orconveyors feeding the acceleration conveyor, for example, conveyors 19and 20, is slowed. If the number of articles is below the desirednumber, the speed of the conveyors feeding the acceleration conveyors isincreased.

The quantity of articles in the middle third 21B of accelerationconveyor 21 is monitored to insure that the number of articles beingtransported to the chevron singulator is within the desired range. Ifthe number of articles exceeds the desired number, the controller 13slows down the conveyors feeding the acceleration conveyor, overridingany speed-up requirement or command based upon the number of articlespresent on the input third 21A of the acceleration conveyor 21. If thenumber of articles is below the desired level in the middle third 21 B,no command is issued as the number of articles present on the inputthird 21A of the conveyor is used to control the maximum speed, e.g.maximum number of articles received from the conveyors feeding theacceleration conveyor.

The number of articles present on the output third 21 C of theacceleration conveyor 21 is used to control the speed of the chevronsingulator. Chevron roller speeds can be increased or decreaseddepending on the number of articles presented at the input of thesingulator and the system capacity.

In one embodiment, camera or cameras 11 record images containing, forexample, 1,000,000 pixels in a 1024×1024 format. The images aretransferred to control system 13 where the images are interpreted todetermine the number of packages and the average size of the packages.The control system can utilize this information to regulate the speed ofthe parcel feeder conveyor 19, buffer conveyor 20, acceleration conveyor21, singulator 33 and transport conveyor 34.

Singulator 33 comprises a chevron configuration of powered rollers thatmay be driven in unison but are preferably controllable individually orin groups as described hereafter. The rollers of each half of singulator33 are angled inwardly so that the items entering the singulator 33 fromthe conveyor 21 move towards the middle of the singulator as the parcelsare transported, effectively assuming a single file formation. Transportconveyor 34 receives the items in single file order and can be used toincrease the spacing between each item if operated at a transfer speedgreater than the singulator 33. The control system can be used to slowdown conveyor 21 if the formation of items on it is dense, giving agreater delay between items as each item enters singulator 33, or tospeed up conveyor 21 if the formation of items is sparse, so thatoverall throughput of the system can be increased without affectingsingulation. Transport conveyor 34 deposits singulated, spaced itemsonto edging conveyor 29. Edging conveyor 29 comprises a series of liverollers mounted in an angled pattern. Edging conveyor 29 “edges” itemson the conveyor before the items enter scanning tunnel 35. Edgingconveyor 29 may also be utilized as a multiples detection zone. Ifacceleration conveyor 21 and singulator 33 have failed to provideadequate spacing or separation between any two articles, the items maybe electronically flagged for downstream diversion.

In accordance with the invention, an advanced form of singulation whichcan be adapted to the feeder/reader subsystem of the invention addsintelligent control and the ability to recycle “doubles” or “multiples”using successive coarse and fine singulation operations to improvesingulation efficiency. For purposes of the present invention, “coarse”singulation refers to a mechanical process which tends to singulate astream of items by attenuation of the stream (increase in spacingbetween items) but which does not track items individually. “Fine”singulation refers to a process wherein individual items traversing thesingulator are identified and/or tracked with a detection system such asa vision system, and controls are used to affect the stream in a mannerthat ensures or at least promotes singulation, for example, by divertingitems back to ensure delivery of items from the system one at a time.

Referring to FIG. 2, a singulation and recirculation system or loop 50includes an acceleration conveyor 52, a chevron conveyor 54, a spacingconveyor 56, a doubles detection conveyor 59, an edging divert conveyor58, a series of cascaded recirculation conveyors 102-105, and a bufferconveyor 62. The acceleration conveyor 52 may be fed by a slide 55including a central divider 57 with diverging walls that spread out thecongested stream of items. Acceleration of the item stream delivered bybuffer conveyor 62 tends to further spread out the formation.Acceleration conveyor 52 may comprise a standard or variable speedconveyor. Singulation loop 50 may be provided with a vision systemincluding a camera 60A mounted over acceleration conveyor 52 formonitoring the density of items 64, with controls for slowing down orspeeding up the conveyor 52 as needed.

FIG. 3 illustrates a more elaborate vision system 61 including cameras60A, 60B and 60C mounted at or near the center of each conveyor sectionas shown for evaluating the count, size and location of items processedthrough the system 50. In this version of the loop, doubles detectconveyor 59 is not interposed between the edging conveyor and thespacing conveyor 56. Vision system 61 enables control of the spacing andorientation of items such as packages 64 by, among other things,continuous adjustment of the velocities of independent groups ofconveyor rollers in chevron conveyor 54 and/or the speed at which theother various conveyors operate. Vision system 61 receives and processesimages taken from sequential locations with cameras 60 and providesdigital feedback to a controller 65 which is in turn connected by aconnection 67 to the drive systems of the various conveyors to maintaina controlled flow of items between the buffer conveyor 62, theacceleration conveyor 52, the chevron conveyor 54, spacing conveyor 56and edging conveyor 58. Cameras 60A-C and associated image processor(s)provide information such as piece count, perimeter, area, centroid,orientation for each item to the controller 65. Based upon this input,the controller 65, continuously or as required, monitors and adjusts thevelocity of the roller groups 76 (FIG. 4) of the chevron conveyor 54,the spacing conveyor 56 and the edging conveyor 58 as describedhereafter.

Chevron conveyor 54 receives items from acceleration conveyor 52 forsingulation. Chevron conveyor 54 includes rollers 66 angled in aherringbone type configuration. As best illustrated in FIGS. 4-7, thepowered rollers 66 of chevron conveyor 54 are arranged in groups 76 offour for the purpose of velocity control. Each group 76 of rollers 66 isindependently driven by a drive unit 68. Each drive unit 68 includes anelectric drive motor 70 (FIG. 5) that drives a timing belt 72. Belt 72is mounted on associated pulleys and drives a rotary drive shaft 73mounted in bearings 75. Drive shaft 73 has a pair of spaced drivepulleys 78 thereon on which a pair of drive belts 74 are mounted. Asshown in FIGS. 4 and 5, each belt 74 is wound over a grooved bushing 77at an outside end of each roller 66. Adjustable tensioning rollers 79engage belts 74 from the side. Drive units 68 and bearings 75 may besecured to a rectangular base plate 80. Drive units 68 and base plates80 are in turn mounted in a pair of rows along and just beneath theoutside of each group 76 of rollers 66. Base plates 80 are mounted at anangle matching that of the associated group 76 of rollers 66.

Groups 76 could, of course, include more or less rollers 66 dependingupon the particular application and design constraints. Indeed, it maybe sufficient for each half or section to constitute a single group 76,limiting control to speeding up or slowing down one side relative to theother. In one embodiment, the speed range of the roller groups 76 isfrom 0 to 420 feet per minute, with a power requirement of 15 kW and anoise level less than 70 db. In the alternative, groups of siderail-mounted power rollers like those shown in Kalm et al. U.S. Pat. No.5,582,286, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference,could be employed, with a single power roller linked to several slaverollers by O-rings.

Rollers 66 of chevron conveyor 54 preferably comprise left and rightsections or halves 82A and 82B that are preferably symmetrical andessentially identical, except that the rollers of left half 82A areangled in opposition to the rollers of right half 82B. Relative to acentral longitudinal axis 84 (FIGS. 3 and 6) of chevron conveyor 54,rollers 66 of chevron conveyor 54 define equal included angles 86 and86′ of from about 5 degrees to about 85 degrees, more typically 20 to 60degrees. Thus, the rollers 66 form a “V” or chevron configuration. Inthe alternative, the angles of each side need not match, and there couldbe several more sections of varying angles, and/or a center section thatdrives items straight ahead flanked by two angled sections substantiallyas shown.

In operation, an item 64 deposited upon chevron conveyor 54 at anylocation along its width will move inwardly toward central longitudinalaxis 84 as the item is transported along the length of the chevronconveyor in the direction designated by the arrow in FIG. 3. Thus, thespread out stream of items 64, conveyed from acceleration conveyor 52onto chevron conveyor 54, will be urged into a single stream of items64, which may however end up spaced relatively close to one another aseach item migrates towards the center.

As noted above, the formation of a singulated stream of items occurs asa result of the V-shaped or chevron geometry of the rollers 66 inconnection with the direction of rotation as indicated by arrow 100(FIG. 7B). As illustrated by arrow 100, the rollers 66 of each half ofthe chevron conveyor turn toward the centerline of the conveyor 54. Theformation of a singulated stream occurs even when the chevron conveyoris operating without the benefit of computer control over the speed ofthe rollers 66 or the rate at which packages are fed onto the chevronconveyor 54 by acceleration conveyor 52. However, according to apreferred aspect of the invention, vision system 61 and controller 65can be used to further enhance the ability of the chevron conveyor 54 tosingulate a stream of packages.

Controller 65, (FIG. 3) which may be a programmable logic controller(PLC), is set to a predetermined target spacing between packages. Visionsystem 61 and camera 60B return images of packages 64 on the chevronconveyor 54, and the position of each such package is computed. Theprojected path of each package on chevron conveyor 54 may then beestimated based on the current speeds of the roller groups 76 along suchpath. Where a collision or inadequate spacing is predicted, controller65 slows or stops rollers in the path of the one of the packages whilethe other goes through. If packages 64 are being introduced on thechevron conveyor 54 too fast for the system to singulate, thencontroller 65 sends a feedback signal to the acceleration conveyor 52,slowing or stopping the introduction of new packages 64 onto the chevronconveyor 54 until the number of packages on chevron conveyor 54 reachesa predetermined normal level.

The singulated stream of items 64 is deposited upon spacing conveyor 56by chevron conveyor 54. Spacing conveyor 56 includes a plurality of liverollers 88 deployed in a standard (non-angled) conveyor configuration.Rollers 88 of spacing conveyor 56 may be divided into independentlycontrolled groups 83 comparable to groups 76 described above. Theoperating velocity of each roller group 83 may be continually adjustedto produce a stream of items conforming to required spacing parameters.Thus, if control of chevron conveyor 54 is insufficient to producedesired spacing between items 64, and camera 60C detects a pair of items64 that are too close together, then controller 65 can increase suchspacing by operating roller groups 83 to either slow one item down,speed the other up, or both in order to correct the situation.

Turning now to FIG. 3A there is illustrated a second embodiment 54′ ofchevron singulator of FIG. 3. As set forth above, items deposited uponchevron conveyor 54′ at any location along its width will move inwardlytoward central longitudinal axis 84 as the items are transported alongthe length of the conveyor in the direction designated by the arrow.Since the spread out stream of items will be urged into a single streamof items, it may, depending on the system capacity and design factors,be possible to narrow the conveyor in order to reduce equipment costsand space required for the conveyor. As illustrated, singulator 54′includes a series of rollers 66 a, 66 b, and 66 c, which becomeprogressively narrower in the direction of travel, indicated by thearrow, of a stream of items being singulated.

As in the case of singulator 54 of FIG. 3, rollers 66 a, 66 b and 66 cof chevron conveyor 54′ comprise left and right sections or halves 82A′and 82B′ that are preferably symmetrical and essentially identical,except that the rollers of left half 82A′ are angled in opposition tothe rollers of right half 82B′. Rollers 66 a, 66 b and 66 c are arrangedin independently driven groups 76 a, 76 b and 76 c, which mayindependently controlled to vary the speed of the rollers along thelength of the conveyor. The controls and drive units for the rollers maybe enclosed in cabinets 71, spaced along the length of the singulator54′. It will be appreciated that the control system illustrated anddescribed in connection with FIG. 3 is equally applicable to singulator54′.

Referring now to FIGS. 8 and 9, edging conveyor 58 includes a pluralityof live rollers 90 mounted at an angle relative to the widthwisedirection of the conveyor. Unlike chevron conveyor 54 and spacingconveyor 56, the rollers 90 of the edging conveyor run in unison. Forthis purpose, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, an electric motor 91 turns adrive shaft 92 by means of a drive belt 98 mounted on a drive pulley 95.Drive shaft 92 extends beneath conveyor 58 along its length and ismounted for rotation in a series of spaced bearings 93 mounted to thefloor or frame of the conveyor. A series of pulleys 94 are mounted inspaced positions along the length of drive shaft 92. Elastomeric drivebands 96 are wound under tension onto circumferential grooves 97 on theoutsides of rollers 90 and around pulleys 94, so that each roller 90 isdirectly driven and all are driven at a uniform speed. This isconsistent with the function of edging conveyor 58, which is to move allitems to one side.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, edging conveyor 58 edges each item beforeit enters an identification device or means such as bar code scanningtunnel (not shown) just downstream. In addition, edging conveyor 58 canbe used as the location for multiples detection. In the event thatchevron conveyor 54 and spacing conveyor 56 fail to produce adequatespacing between any two items 64, the items 64 can be electronicallyflagged for downstream diversion and processing. As illustrated, rollers90 define an included angle A with the common central longitudinal axis84 of conveyors 54, 56 and 58. Angle A is not critical and may vary fromabout 10 to 85 degrees, more typically 20 to 60 degrees depending uponthe particular application and design constraints.

As shown in FIG. 2, an improved edging divert conveyor 58′ of theinvention includes a gate 99 which forces items 64 to remain on conveyor58 and slide along gate 99. When gate 99 is moved, retracted verticallyor drawn to one side, a item 64 identified as overweight, oversized orother identified and selected for diversion will pass through the nowopen gate and be diverted down a chute 101 which may be a slide,conveyor, or an inclined series of powered or unpowered rollers, to thefirst of a series of cascaded conveyors 102-105 as described hereafter.Gate 99 may be a solenoid-actuated, flexible or rigid panel that slidesin a groove, such as the one illustrated in Kalm et al. U.S. Pat. No.5,582,286.

The edge divert shown has potentially numerous applications in thefeeder/reader subsystem as well as other bulk item processing areas.According to a one form of the invention, the edging rollers arecombined with a segmented retractable rail 110 (FIG. 1) to form a uniquedivert apparatus. For items not requiring diverting, the segmentedretractable rail 110 remains stationary. For items such as parcels,boxes and bundled mail, that must be diverted, the segments 109 retractin front of the parcel and are extended immediately behind it by thecontrol system. The component of force applied to the item by the edgingrollers in the transverse direction causes items in the stream to bepushed toward the edge of the conveyor and exit when a rail segment 109is actuated to the open position. In one embodiment, rail segments 109are actuated via air cylinders located underneath. An individuallycontrolled actuator may be associated with each rail segment. Segments109 preferably overlap one another in the conveying direction to reducethe possibility of “hang-ups”, i.e., items that catch on a segment andare not diverted.

Items are introduced to the edging divert conveyor primarily in asingulated state with controlled spacing. In some cases, two pieces maybe consecutive upon entering the divert, as in the case of “doubles” or“multiples.” The edger controller (not shown) is provided with thegeometry, size and/or weight of each piece before it enters. Uponentering the divert, the edging rollers 90 cause each item 64 to contactand then slide against the retractable rail 110. Based on the sizeinformation and the speed of travel of the item, the controller createsa timing sequence for retracting and extending each segment 109. Theforce applied to the item by the edging rollers causes the item to exitover the retracted segments.

Diverted items 64 may be those which are detected as “doubles” or“multiples,” namely two or more items overlapping or too close together.For this purpose doubles detection conveyor 59 may be placed immediatelyupstream from edging conveyor 58′ as shown in FIG. 2 and receives items64 from spacing conveyor 56. Eliminating doubles and multiples, e.g.clusters of two or more items that are side by side or consecutivewithout sufficient spacing, is a key element of bulk item handlingautomation. A method for detection of doubles according to the presentinvention involves capturing top and profile images of items 64 while inmotion on conveyor 59, evaluating the images using a simple algorithm totest for doubles, and comparing images against a database to determinedestination, i.e., whether or not the items imaged will be passed on ordiverted off of the feeder line. Preferably, conveyor 59 according tothe invention is a powered roller conveyor with variable speedcapability. A vision system 106, which may be part of system 61 orself-contained, includes two or more digital cameras 111 that acquireimages from above the conveyor and from the sides.

As an alternative to using three, or multiple cameras a single, upwardlydirected camera 111 with zoom capability is shown in FIGS. 13A-13C. Atiltable mirror 112 cooperates with angled mirrors on either side of theconveyor to record images from the top and both sides. It has been foundfurther that greater doubles detection accuracy results from imaging theupper surface of the doubles detect conveyor at a substantial distance,e.g. 20 feet or more, to reduce parallax errors. Parallax errors canalso be reduced by using multiple mirrors and/or curved mirrors.

A singulated item stream containing doubles enters the doubles detectconveyor 59 at a known speed. Images of the top and side view of theitems 64 are continuously updated. A doubles detect controller receivesthe digital images and extracts the number of corners in view for use asa process variable. The algorithm for the image taken from the top is asfollows. If the number of corners is four, the item is released to themail stream. If the number of corners is greater than four, geometrydata related to the item such as area, centroid, and edge lengths isstored in a short-term database. The item is electronically flagged,diverted and recirculated. For subsequent items that have more than fourcorners, the controller compares the geometry data for the item withgeometry data in the database. If a match is found, it is assumed theitem 64 has a non-rectangular shape but is not a double, and istherefore released to the mail stream. The algorithm for the image takenfrom the side is similar. As noted above, a pair of items 64 too closetogether may also be flagged for diversion.

Other useful vision systems include a line scan system wherein thecamera position at a gap between two conveyors creates a scrolling imageof objects that pass by. Such a system is further described incommonly-assigned U.S. Ser. No. 09/540,371, filed Mar. 31, 2000, theentire contents of which is incorporated by reference herein for allpurposes. This patent application also describes, for example, severalalternative hold and release mechanism which could be used as the finesingulator of the present invention.

When the item enters edging conveyor 58′, gate 99 is opened if the itemor items have been flagged for diversion, and is shut if the item hasbeen successfully singulated. Items 64 that are not diverted continue onto the next processing station, preferably a six sided bar code scanningtunnel such as tunnel 35 of FIG. 1. Conveyor 102 receives items 64 fromslide 101 and may also receive new items 64 from, for example, a bufferconveyor such as conveyor 20 in FIG. 1 or alternatively, a RFID readingstation (not shown).

During circulation, measures may be taken to encourage doubles ormultiples to separate or break up. Dropping a cluster of items a shortdistance from one conveyor to another, especially using a series ofconveyors moving at progressively greater speeds, will typically achievethis effect. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 10, one form of cascaded conveyorsingulator and doubles separator according to the invention is a seriesof conventional belt conveyors 102, 103, 104 and 105 each disposed at anangle slightly greater than horizontal (e.g., 5 to 30 degrees, dependingon the length of each conveyor) so that the exit end of each conveyor isslightly above the entry end of the next conveyor. In this manner, items64 moving along the cascaded conveyor system fall a short distance fromone conveyor to the next, which action tends to occur one item at a timeas the center of mass of each item reaches its critical position on theend of the conveyor. The vertical distance is preferably not so greatthat the chance damage to the contents of an item such as a parcelincreases.

As illustrated, ramped conveyors 102, 103, 104 and 105 each include alower article receiving area 127 and an upper discharge end 129. As bestshown in FIG. 10 a stream of articles is discharged from the upperdischarge end 129 of, for example, conveyor 102 onto the receiving area127 of succeeding conveyor 103. As the stream of articles falls,clusters of articles will tend to separate and this effect is enhancedif conveyor 103 is operating at a higher speed than preceding conveyor102. Thus, each successive conveyor 103-105 is preferably operated at aslightly greater speed than the preceding conveyor in order toprogressively increase spacing of the mail stream.

As noted above, when a double or cluster of items encounters the edge ofone of the conveyors, the act of falling to the next level tends toseparate the double or cluster of items. To increase the likelihood thata double or cluster will not remain after the transfer, according to afurther aspect of the invention, each progressive conveyor can be set atan angle in the horizontal plane relative to the one preceding it, suchas a right angle as shown in FIG. 14, or an angle in the range of from5-90 degrees, especially 10-70 degrees, as shown in FIGS. 15A to 15D.Following this process, the items 64 are passed to curved belt bufferconveyor 62 ready to be introduced to the acceleration conveyor 52.

FIGS. 11 and 12 illustrate an alternative form of cascaded conveyorsystem wherein a first, essentially horizontal conveyor 102′ feeds to aseries of inclined conveyors 103′, 104′ that form an upward ramp. Thecrossovers from one inclined conveyor to another help segregate itemsthat are lined up in the lengthwise (conveying) direction. In oneembodiment, inclined conveyors 103′, 104′ each include a plurality ofparallel longitudinal conveying sections comprising parallel strip belts120. The belts 120 of the ramped conveyors 103′, 104′ are controlledindividually so that some parcels or items are moving upwards on activebelts 121 while others remain stationary on idle belts 122. Belts 120can be controlled by a vision and control system 123 as described hereinthat identifies the lead parcel for each section and the belts whichsupport items, running those while others remain idle. The vision andcontrol system 123 may also be used to detect doubles and operateselected belts 120 to separate clustered items.

In the alternative, of course, the control features can be omitted andthe conveyors 102′-104′ run in much the same manner as described forconveyors 102-104, that is, the embodiment of FIGS. 11 and 12 is capableof being used for either fine or coarse singulation depending on how itis implemented (e.g., the number and spacing of belts) and whether ornot it is provided with a control system and vision or other form ofitem detection system. The same is true of the chevron singulationsystem using angled sets of rollers described above, which tends to forma group of items into a single file even when operating without anyvision or control system.

When used as part of a feeder/reader subsystem as shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B,the foregoing recirculation loop would be positioned as indicated toreplace singulator 33 and conveyor 34. In this connection, it should benoted that the edging divert module 37 following the scanning tunnel 35or alternatively, an RFID station, may have essentially the sameconstruction as the edging divert conveyor 58′, but is controlleddifferently, namely to divert objects which prove to be non-machinablebased on weight and/or size as measured in tunnel 35. In thealternative, an arrangement could be employed wherein the scanningtunnel 35 receives mail pieces 64 directly from the doubles detectionconveyor 59, and the edging divert conveyor 58′ is located immediatelydownstream from scanning tunnel 35.

FIG. 14 illustrates one such alternative form of recirculation loopaccording to the invention. Return conveyors 102-105 are at right anglesat the turnaround end of the loop to provide better break-up of piledmail pieces, and the high speed divert 37′ has a dual function. A doublegate mechanism 99′ is provided for the divert mechanism with dual exitpaths or slides 101A, 101B whereby items rejected as doubles can berecirculated, and items rejected as oversize or overweight can beremoved from the system entirely, saving the expense of having twodivert conveyors.

It will be understood that the foregoing description is of preferred andexemplary embodiments of the invention. For example, although the systemand methods of the invention have been described with reference to itemssuch as mail pieces, it will be apparent that other essentiallythree-dimensional objects, products or items could be fed and singulatedin the manner described. (For purposes of the invention, letters andother thin mail pieces (“flats”) are considered essentiallytwo-dimensional.) Additionally, while coarse and fine singulationoperations have been described primarily in connection with theseparation of doubles, it will be appreciated that the successive coarseand fine singulation steps could be performed in a different order. Forexample, a series of cascaded angled or non-angled conveyors could beutilized as an initial singulation step, followed by a fine singulationstep, utilizing a chevron, hold-and-release, or strip belt singulationas disclosed herein. Thus, it will be appreciated that the invention isnot limited to the specific forms shown, but is limited only by thescope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for feeding a stream of articles toa sorter comprising; an infeed conveyor; a detection system configuredto determine the spacing and number of articles on the infeed conveyor,the detection system controlling the rate at which articles are loadedonto the infeed conveyor, the detection system comprising a visionsystem which monitors the number of articles present in each of aplurality of areas of the infeed conveyor; a singulator, the singulatorreceiving a disordered stream of non-flat, three dimensional articlesfrom the infeed conveyor and spacing the articles for transfer from thesingulator one at a time; a scanner, the scanner receiving articles fromthe singulator and scanning a plurality of sides of the article fordestination indica, the scanner generating a signal corresponding to thescanned indica; and a diverter, the diverter directing selected articlesin response to the signal generated by the scanner.
 2. The apparatus ofclaim 1 further comprising an edger, the edger receiving the stream ofarticles from the singulator, positioning the articles for scanning bythe scanner, and passing the stream of articles to the scanner forscanning.
 3. The apparatus claim 1 further wherein the scanner comprisesa tunnel-type scanner, the tunnel type scanner scanning a plurality ofsides of each item in the stream of articles passing through thescanner.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the scanner furthercomprises weight and size detectors and wherein articles exceedingpredetermined physical criteria are diverted in response to signals fromthe detectors.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising at leasttwo, first and second cascade conveyors disposed head end to end so thatarticles leaving the first conveyor are received by the second, whereinthe second conveyor is moving at a greater speed than the firstconveyor.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a sorter, thesorter sorting articles in the stream in response to informationcollected by the scanner.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprisinga controller, the controller regulating the rate at which articles areloaded onto the conveyor and controlling the speed of the singulator. 8.The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the vision system monitors at leasteach of an input section and an output section of the infeed conveyor.9. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising a controller, thecontroller regulating the rate at which the articles are loaded onto theacceleration conveyor based on the number of articles in the inputsection of the acceleration conveyor detected by the vision system. 10.The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the controller controls the speed ofthe singulator based upon the number of articles detected in the outputsection by the vision system.
 11. A method of feeding a stream ofarticles to a sorter comprising: directing a disordered stream ofnon-flat, three dimensional articles onto an infeed conveyor; utilizinga vision system to determine the spacing and number of individualarticles in each of a plurality of areas on the infeed conveyor as thestream of articles is conveyed with the infeed conveyor; controlling therate at which articles are loaded onto the infeed conveyor based uponthe number and spacing of articles present in less than all of the areasmonitored by the vision system; conveying the disordered stream ofnon-flat, three dimensional articles from the infeed conveyor to asingulator, singulating the stream and directing the singulated streamof articles from the singulator to a scanner; scanning a plurality ofsides of articles comprising the stream for destination indica;generating a signal corresponding to scanned indicia; and divertingselected articles in response to the signal generated by the scanner.12. The method of claim 11 further comprising further comprising edgingthe stream of articles with an edger prior to scanning the articles. 13.The method of claim 11 wherein scanning the articles comprises scanninga plurality of sides of each article.
 14. The method of claim 13 whereinthe articles are scanned utilizing a tunnel-type scanner configured toscan six sides of articles passing through the scanner.
 15. The methodof claim 11 further comprising directing articles from the scanner alonga path to a sorter, the sorter sorting articles in the stream inresponse to information collected by the scanner.
 16. The method ofclaim 11 further comprising imaging the stream of articles with a camerato detect clusters of articles in the stream.
 17. The method of claim 11wherein the scanner further comprises weight and size detectors andwherein the method further comprises detecting and diverting articlesexceeding preselected physical criteria.
 18. The method of claim 11further comprising controlling the rate at which articles are loadedonto the infeed conveyor based upon the number of articles present on aninput section of the infeed conveyor and controlling the speed of thesingulator based upon the number of articles detected in an outputsection of the infeed conveyor.